POLLEN

You can be "over" the noisy blown out punk thing if you want. Seriously. It's OK. How many times do you really want to hear tuneless bursts of distortion punctuated by high pitched "aaahhh! aaahhh!! aarrgghh!!" instead of choruses. I get it. We all do. I'm just saying though.....you are missing out. These Philadelphia mutants took off the fukkn roof at last spring's Manic Relapse (POLLEN and THE DARK were pretty much worth the entire price of admission), and this tape (released for their trip to the fest) is relentless. Five studio tracks in as many minutes, DBeat riffs struggling to keep up with the perhaps fastest the tupa-tupa I have ever heard. It's textbook, and it's awesome. Raw as fukk rehearsal recording on the flip - just in case you thought I was joking when I said they can deliver the goods live. This band is a monster.

MANIC RELAPSE IV DEMO

MARGARET THRASHER

I really liked this band. Listened to their recordings, even had some exchanges with some of them through the (e)mail before I saw them live, so I was quite excited when I saw they were coming to Chicago sometimes in the late '00s. Chicago was 90 miles away, but it was a drive that I made frequently to see or play shows, no big deal....because punk rules. So I went to the show, I think I remember CONDENADA playing as well, but I might be wrong, and I was in a super shitty mood when I got there. Lurked in the corner by myself, tried to not talk to anyone, didn't even say hello to the members of MARGARET THRASHER that I had corresponded with. And then, a few songs into their set, I just left the show and drove home. Whatever had me all depressed seems pretty stupid this morning, because this demo is great and I would really like to have seen this band live...you think life offers do-overs?

"EUROPE" DEMO 2005

ENDLESS NIGHTMARE

Criminally overlooked Philadelphia hardcore circe mid-00s. I only saw them a couple of times, but ENDLESS NIGHTMARE were a juggernaut in the flesh and this demo captures that fury. Breakneck crust with ScandiLeads and insistent vocals, it's all here, and it all holds up. I think the sheer speed and force of this band made them stand out at the time, and even more so in retrospect. Good shits.

DIE ALONE

ANCIENT CHINESE PENIS

I've written in passing about this band and this demo previously, but here's the damn thing in the flesh. After our summer tour in 1993, ANCIENT CHINESE PENIS kicked out our vocalist Dave - he was a bit of a boner, and definitely a bummer to be in a band with....and Dan from ILLEGITIMATE SONS OF JACKIE O had recently moved from Tulsa to Norman and expressed interest in joining us on second guitar, so the timing seemed right. Dan added a sincere freak vibe, something we had not been able to properly harness as a band, and we felt like we were starting to come into our own a bit - playing faster, writing better songs, the whole package. We had toured, we had shared stages with actual famous people...we were ready. We probably didn't play more than a dozen shows with Dan, that freak vibe was too fukkn much and I think most of those shows were actually a mess....but this was still my favorite era of the band.  I hadn't heard Al Fresca since I left Oklahoma in 1994, until I visited Tulsa last month and met Dan for the first time in years....(he's still a mutant, but with more grey hair - kinda like me), and I still don't have a copy of the damned cassette (I'm definitely looking - hint, hint). Take a listen...we were trying, man. We failed, in my honest opinion, but we were trying. Dan's leads on the instrumental "Chronic Halitosis" serve as a window into the weirdness that might have ensued if we had stayed active, and Drummer Dan (different Dan entirely) was so fukkn good at super busy freak beats. We re-recorded "4 in 1 Penis Combo" (the title came when we realized that we had written a track that had - gasp - FOUR PARTS) and it sounds kinda cool, "Grafenberg" is a weird and lazy by the numbers hardcore track with mutant vocals and "PMS" stands for "Penis Metal Syndrome"....I mean, we don't sound like anything normal at all, and while that might not have been the point, I am completely happy with the result. 

AL FRESCA

NOTE: I'm pretty sure that a few of the song titles are mixed up, but I can't imagine that will negatively affect most of you. And the final track, "Never Trust A Girl On Acid" is with Matt on vocals  and is a good window into the version of MULTIPLE CHOICE/FUCKFACE that relocated to San Francisco in '94, even though here it's a mostly different band delivering the goods. You know, in case that is something that you are interested in....

BURL

1994 suited us pretty well yesterday, so why not another visit....shall we? San Jose's BURL are a perfect example of mid decade USDIY scenes and styles colliding - emotional hardcore, melodic punk, weird mathy discordance, and an earnestness that cannot be faked (or, seemingly, replicated). I would be lying if I said that I liked everything on the demo, but I am a huge fan of the demo as a whole, and I hope the distinction is logical to you, dear reader. I hear DAMITOL. I hear early Lookout. I hear BORN AGAINST. I hear basements. I hear memories. 

BURL

FRAGMENTED

Active during the second half of the '90s, Illinois act FRAGMENTED left us with a legacy of incredibly engaging sounds. The Solemn Drain's nearly hour and a half excursion is simultaneously a throwback to primitive first wave noise/electronic purveyors, and a precursor to today's constantly growing world of knob twiddlers...but FRAGMENTED still exist on an island. The sounds are dark, introspective, they draw you in and hold you tight and, in the right mood, I barely notice that the rest of the world fades into the background. This one is important, kids...

THE SOLEMN DRAIN

LIFE

Hard to imagine that Tokyo's LIFE have been dishing out relentless bursts of bulldozer crust for more than two decades...but put this demo on high and fukkn believe it, punk. A twelve minutes, eight track chaotic Japanese assault - blast "Forest Destruction" and you'll understand how far ahead of the curve these punks were. Still one of my favorite Japanese bands...

WHEN THE PEACE COLLAPSES

CRACK BABIES

Weirdo Pennsylvania (I think?) shitpunk from 1993. I'm not gonna lie, this shit is for the hyper curious and dedicated purists only...are you gonna do it?

ARE U ON CRACK?

SHATAAN

This one got lost in my mental shuffle during the deluge of Black Twilight/Crepusculo Negro related releases during the first wave from 2009-11 or so. Thankfully, I hoard shit, so SHATAAN was waiting patiently for me last week, waiting to me to open myself to sounds of primitively reproduced and musically advanced discordant bleak metal. And I was opened. I certainly would put this in the same category as VOLAHN or GLOSSOLALIA, but there's something about the vocals and the howled desperation...it makes up for the almost casual delivery of these relatively complex tracks. Listen to the guitars, let the tracks sink in...it was worth the wait.

WAR CRY LAMENT

COMFORT

Australia's COMFORT offer everything but...

NO HURT

JUDITH

Excellent mystery techno mix I snagged in LA a few weeks ago...chilled out, laid back and subtly psychedelic. You're down or you aren't. 

JUDITH

SICKO

Welcome to the gnarliest 216 seconds of your Thursday. The Free State Of Jefferson keeps cranking out some monsters, and these four tracks from SICKO continue the trend with bursts of ferocious adolescent hardcore. Check "Ghosts," and listen to the drums and know what is like to listen to someone else destroying everything. Fast, short, to the point, and pushing some serious tonnage, these kids just sound juicy. Get juiced. All men die, and the world keeps spinning...

DEMO '16

MIDGET FARMERS

This band must have existed in every town that had even the slightest hint of an alternative scene in the early '90s. Equal parts melodic alternative rock and rehashed late '80s US punk, these are the bands who had friends who were sure they were gonna make it, though I dare say that none of them ever did (I can name at least a half dozen from my shithole town). There's a part of "James #1" that is dead on NAKED RAYGUN, but the song has none of the teeth, you get what I mean? But still,m there's a time and a place for this shit, and strangely I still find these scores rather endearing...perhaps the eight of you who bother listening after I basically said the tape is a stinker will find Georgia's MIDGET FARMERS rather endearing too.

AMERICA'S A PLACE TO WASTE YOUR LIFE

And yes, I am aware the that song "Black Girl" is, at best, really stupid but most likely it is just super racist. I'm not making excuses.

MIRROR

I'm not trying to break the next big thing here, but I like to make sure you're getting everything you need. Austin's MIRROR have been kicking around for a while, people from several other bands that you already (should) know, but it wasn't until I saw them in New York earlier this year that I truly understood what The People were talking about. Destructive and passionate hardcore, delivered under a wash of madness...shit just sounds demented, and I love it. The recent(ish) EP is mandatory material, and this demo is pure magic. Check the drums in "Universal Dismay." Get it. 

MIRROR

TRAITOR CRUCIFIX

This one is something else, punk. Eleven minutes of Florida brutality...searing and relentless. Even when they "slow" things to a dull pummel on "Proclamation," these kids are a swarm of devastation. And that's when they scale it back a bit. You see where I'm going with this? Pure power..and those vocals. Ooooof. The shit is nasty in all of the right ways. Get it. 

TRAITOR CRUCIFIX

MANTOVANI

These are the sounds that quietly emanated from my grandmother's stereo 24 hours a day when I visited as a child. It wasn't traditional classical music, though I didn't really know the difference...pop music from a different time and for people left clinging on. They called his signature sound "Cascading Strings" and the descriptor fits beautifully. Palatable, light, schlock...no teeth whatsoever. But somehow the fact that all of the edges have been removed is what makes me pull these records out from time to time - they are harmless, they are sweet. It's like warm cookies on a rainy day, but for your ears. I guess sometimes everything doesn't need to be so angsty, the world has enough angst.

AN EVENING WITH MANTOVANI

TENSIÓN

Boots on the ground, punks. Street hardcore from Madrid, TENSIÓN get straight to it and don't let up. Every time I found myself starting to think "I've heard this before..." these kids would drop something so good - a tasty lick, a killer riff, a perfectly timed snarl - that I couldn't wait for the next track. Certified banger status achieved. 

TENSIÓN

AUBE

It's supposed to rain here today...so I guess this one will be perfect. Driving, brooding, dark punk with a rock solid rhythm section and a meandering guitar that lands somewhere between Love-era CULT and BELLICOSE MINDS. It's straightforward, and fans of the subgenre will be well pleased because these Canadians touch all the bases with equal vigor on this 2013 release, and the reverbed Revolution Summer vocals don't hurt one damn bit. Perhaps I was drawn because the first 98 seconds of the opener "Exil" remind me of one of my favorite current bands, but I certainly stuck around because these kids fukkn nail it. 

AUBE

PURE GROUND

Rarely does modern synth driven music completely capture the warmth of The Originators. PURE GROUND does. I feel like I am stepping into the comforting arms of CABARET VOLTAIRE circa Voice Of America and it never feels contrived. 2013's Protection is a dark force, simplicity as intensity and a constant underlying buzzsaw of distorted electronics...it occurs to me with almost alarming frequency that Chondritic Sound does not seem capable of slipping up...

PROTECTION

The recent "Giftgarten" and last year's "Standard Of Living" are obviously essential once you are up to speed...but whenever possible, I like to make sure all of your bases are covered. 

THE VARICAPS

A criminally short lived SF band, THE VARICAPS only played a handful of shows before calling it quits. The one I saw was great, even though fuck having to go to the Hemlock to see shows, and this demo is a way under the radar banger. Hopelessly catchy driving punk, Kat's vocals harness THE GITS and drip with soul while Kevin's buzzsaw guitar cuts through the melodies and gives the band just enough tension. Rhythm section is pure LES THUGS/LA FRACTION four on the floor power and never lets up. It would have been good to have more, for sure, but if nine minutes of killer punk is the whole of your legacy and nary a clunker in the mix....? Then you're doing pretty damned well, young punk.

THE VARICAPS

MUTWAWA

Gorgeous pounding EDM in the most primal sense. This is Midwest after hours dance clubs circa 1988, but seemingly with more drugs...and it's great.

MUTWAWA

CANDACE

Brilliantly crafted airy pop tunes. Three of them. I waxed at length when I first posted this Portland outfit a few months back, and all of those words ring true Return To Zero as well....apparently these ladies know how to write a fukkn song because they keep doing it over and over again. I mean, "Midnight Blue" could be a lost OCEAN BLUE or SUNDAYS track, and that's high muthafuukn praise for this grey(ing) beard grind freek geezer. Perfect is hard to fukk with, y'all. 

RETURN TO ZERO

Worth noting: CANDACE recently stopped using (the superior) moniker IS/IS for very obvious reasons....